Our ancestors（祖先）made the old saying that friends{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(be) like wine-the older,the better.Because of that, many people think old friends to be{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(important) than new ones.For example,if two pieces of advice are given to solve a problem,one from a new friend and the other from an old friend,people always prefer to choose the latter one,{#blank#}3{#/blank#}the new friend's advice may be better.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(disagree) with the old saying,I believe that new friends are not{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(necessary) worse than old friends. Why?Because the{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(long) of time cannot tell whether your friendship is better or not.

    Once you call someone friend,he must be a person who is{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(rely) and whose interests are in common with{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(you).Maybe a friend's outside look{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(change) all the time,but the inside characters of him and his interests won't change at all.It is just these unchangeable characters and interests that make him a friend to you.{#blank#}10{#/blank#},there is no difference between old friends and new ones on this point.

    I've been a volunteer at Radio Lollipop since May. It is one of the best experiences that I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(have) in the last few years.

    Radio Lollipop is an international charity organization {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(found) in 1979 to provide care, comfort, games and entertainment for children in hospital. The service is provided{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(entire) by volunteers who have been specially selected and trained to make a child's stay in hospital more interesting and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (little) frightened

    I help out regularly {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Monday evenings after work at the Royal Hospital. My task is to deliver a smile to the children at the wards (病房){#blank#}6{#/blank#}might be there for a few days or even a couple of months.{#blank#}7{#/blank#}is hard to find children on Monday, as the cinema at the hospital is open on that day. Most of them tend {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(be) there.

    I am thankful for this opportunity to help children at the hospital and make their stays more pleasant. The experience also helps me deal with the {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(difficulty) and challenges that I've been faced with in my own life. I am now more positive in helping others and realize {#blank#}10{#/blank#} everyone goes through some pain and suffers from time to time.

    We all know that the Friday after Thanksgiving means a mad dash to the shopping centre for ridiculous sales. But how did this bargain shopping get {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(it) start?

    In fact, the first Black Friday had nothing {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (do) with Thanksgiving or shopping. The origin of Black Friday as we know it today started in Philadelphia during the 1950s and 1960s. Crowds of people would come to town the day after Thanksgiving for the annual Army­Navy football game to be held the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (follow) Saturday. Streets and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (store) were always crowded, which was great for business but made easy­pickings for shoplifters (行窃者). Local police called this “Black Friday”. Not only did they have to deal with extra traffic {#blank#}5{#/blank#} shoplifting, but they had to work extra hours and couldn't request the day off.

    The term didn't go national {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the late 1980s, but the {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (explain) changed. While shopkeepers {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (general) suffered financial losses most of the year, the increase of holiday shoppers marked the first day of real profit. In traditional accounting (会计) practices a few years ago, losses {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (record) in red ink, and profits in black ink. So the day after Thanksgiving, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} companies go “into the black” and make a profit, became Black Friday.

    From the first day I arrived in Kunming, I had my understanding of China {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(change). Far from being narrow-minded and hostile to {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(foreign), people came up to talk to me the first time I went out on the street. It happened to be all in Chinese, so I didn't understand much, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}it did cause me to rethink my assumptions.

    As my Chinese improved, this continued throughout my stay, from my landlord introducing me to people who could help us learn Chinese to {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(get) to know the couple who ran a noodle restaurant nearby.

    If you're interested in other people, their culture, and their language, they'll be{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(friend) to you. China isn't {#blank#}6{#/blank#}exception.

    Don't judge a country by its media coverage, {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(especial) some Western media, which have much prejudice.

    I saw a very different kind of China with my own eyes. Kunming, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} I lived for most of my stay, wasn't much polluted. I had frank conversations with Chinese people about almost everything.

    Still China {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(develop), but the economic growth means that most people {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(see) their living standards improve rapidly in the last 20 years. People I spoke with were generally optimistic about the future.

    The Silk Road was a route that connected people from the East to West for hundreds of years and allowed {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (they) to trade valuable goods with each other. But there's more to the story. The Silk Road should {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (real) be called the Silk Roads. The Silk Road, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} started in China, went west and branched out into many routes.

    The Silk Road has been around for nearly 3,000 years. Most people know that valuable goods traveled along the route: silk and spices from China; jewels and wood from India; gold and animals from East Africa. These goods {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (trade) in cities along the route or ended up as far west {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Europe.

    But the people {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (travel) along the Silk Road were carrying something far {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (valuable) than their goods. They were carrying ideas and technology. European travelers returned home with stories of huge Chinese ships they had seen. The compass is an example of a(n) {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (invent) that came west from China. Europeans learned from Korean maps, which were advanced for the 1400s.

    {#blank#}9{#/blank#} was the 11, 000 km Silk Road that shaped the world we know today. The many routes were a way for different people {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (meet) each other and talk about the developing world.